February 6, 2014

Easy, Homemade Pizza Dough Recipe

If you have been reading for long, you know that pizza is one of my favorite foods. I shared a delicious pizza recipe before, but it takes advance planning, which I'm not always good at doing. When King Arthur Flour had an easy recipe for pizza crust, I knew I wanted to try it. Their recipes have a solid reputation; I was not disappointed. I have been using this delicious and easy pizza dough recipe one or two times a month, for at least a year with minimal adaptations. Big compliments have been given to this recipe, too.

Pizza Dough1 3/4 warm water1 tablespoon sugar1 tablespoon yeast (I use instant/bread machine, but active dry works, too.)1 tablespoon salt2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil5 1/4 -6 cups flourMix everything but the flour in a large mixing bowl. Add the flour, beginning with just 5 1/4 cups. Mix thoroughly before deciding to add additional flour, one tablespoon at a time.Knead for about 7 minutes. (I use my dough hook with the Kitchen Aid mixer, but you can do this by hand of course, or even in a bread machine.)Place dough in a lightly greased bowl and cover. Allow to rise for 1-2 hours. Preheat oven to 450° for a very long time, with pizza stone in oven. My oven takes about thirty minutes to preheat, though it beeps at me after about ten minutes. (Most ovens indicate they are at the correct temperature long before they are. Use an oven thermometer to check.)Deflate and divide dough into two or three equal parts. (Make a piece sign for equal pieces.) OR divide the dough in half for two large pizzas. Roll each piece into a 12-14 inch (or 15-16 for the large pizzas) circle on a well-floured surface. If the dough will not stretch, let it rest for ten minutes. Place dough circle on a piece of parchment paper. Add a pizza sauce(not spaghetti), toppings, and whole-milk mozzarella cheese. Use very little sauce. You should be able to see some of the dough peeking through the sauce. (I use about 1/4 cup per smaller pizza. That is just four tablespoons. Sometimes, I may need to add a fifth tablespoon.)Optional: When adding the flour, you can also add 2 tablespoons pizza dough flavoring (from King Arthur). Sometimes I add it, but not every time. Using parchment paper makes it so that no cornmeal is needed. When I used cornmeal, I had to use too much. It took away from the simplicity of the crust. However, I will warn you that the parchment prevents the crust from browning on the bottom.

When I make pizza for our family with no leftovers, I use two small dough balls for a meal. The third I place in a lightly oiled freezer bag to freeze. When I have two in the freezer, I set them in the refrigerator the day before pizza night to thaw. Two to three hours prior to baking, I let them come to room temperature on a floured surface on the counter. Then I proceed as usual.

We have homemade pizza about twice a month. How often do you enjoy pizza? Do you make your own, take-out, or freezer pizza?

I make my own too...but am a little scared of yeast still...so I rely on the bread machine to prep the dough for me and then I take it from there. However, our family can already eat through one pizza. I know I'm GOING to have to learn how to think ahead and use yeast well enough so that we can make 2-3 pizzas at a time instead of just one.